I had heard of the Atchafalaya River when I was a child. It was said that the entire river delta with all its green tributaries and lakes covered over a hundred miles from north to west and over twenty from south to east. It was swampy land, a labyrinth, home to every kind of hermit, leper, or displaced person, and it flowed into the Gulf of Mexico in a basin where it merged with the bayous of the Mississippi. “So I’m supposed to stay near the Atchafalaya for a year?” I asked challengingly, wrapping my trembling arms around my torso.
“Exactly!” With a strange feeling in my stomach, I watched Nathan slam the door of the car. “That’s far enough, I think,” he then said.
“Should we cover it with branches?” Icarus looked around, but Nathan waved him off.
“No need. We’ll be far away before it gets light.”
“Don’t stare at her like that!” I suddenly heard Troy hiss and turned to see him shove Sparta in the chest, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward onto the grass. “I simply didn’t let you drown because I wouldn’t have been able to reconcile it with my conscience! But that doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re a miserable little shit. Just watch it!”
Shocked, I looked from Troy to Sparta. “He’s sick,” I said, irritated by Troy’s outburst, and spontaneously held out my hand to Sparta. He took it gratefully and I pulled him to his feet. He was much lighter than expected and probably exhaustedsince he didn’t fight back against Troy in any way. “And it probably wasn’t even him,” I added now. I hadn’t known at the time of my accusation how bad off he truly was.
Troy sized me up, his chocolate-brown eyes narrowed. “You were so certain. Besides, who else could it have been? Ian or me?”
I shook my head. “He was strong.”
“Thank you,” Troy replied dryly. “Then it was Kjertan.”
“Stop it!” Nathan approached us with long strides through the darkness. “Save your strength, we still have a long way to go.”
“Stanton looked at her as if he wanted to skin her alive and then put her in a saltbox.” Troy spat on the ground. “I say we leave him here.”
“And I say we take him with us.” Nathan’s calm voice indicated there would be no argument.
For a moment, they stared at each other, still overstimulated by the escape, irritated and tired from lack of sleep.
Troy was the first to look away. “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you!” He marched forward as naturally as if he knew the way, Nathan, however, whistled him back. “This way.” He pointed to a path in the opposite direction that led into the forest on the other side. Visibly embarrassed, Troy trotted back, which made Icarus grin.
“Ass!” Troy punched him in the shoulder and Icarus punched back, then they laughed like two schoolboys having a fun fight at recess.
“I hope you all have your boots on.” Nathan, who was a few steps ahead, stopped abruptly.
I glanced at my feet, which were only in socks, but I didn’t really realize it until Nathan’s inquiry. “Um…no.”
“No?” Nathan liked to do that. Repeating words or questions. He came over and stared at my feet in disbelief. “Damnit! Please tell me this is a joke and your shoes are in the Nissan.”
“They’re on the Agamemnon in your cabin,” I replied sheepishly even though it wasn’t my fault they were there.
“The Atchafalaya,” Nathan said, making a vague gesture with his arms outstretched, “is teeming with swamp rattlesnakes, diamondbacks, and coral snakes. A coral snake bite can kill several adults, but go ahead, princess, if you think you can go barefoot…”
“I didn’t choose this place,” I snapped, clenching my hands in anger. I was tired and cold, and my stomach was as hungry as the deepest crevice in the Grand Canyon. “Youdragged me here. It’s not my fault we had to jump overboard because of Isaac. If I’d known this was going to be a trip to the swamps, I would have gladly fetched my boots, but Isaac preferred to let his mercenaries beat me black and blue… Sorry, I just didn’t have time…” I stared at him, hoping I wouldn’t start crying. And I hoped he wouldn’t yell at me or say anything caring because then I would definitely burst into tears. I just wanted to lie down somewhere and sleep.
The men looked from me to Nathan and back again. It remained silent for several heartbeats before Nathan wordlessly dropped to his knees and motioned for me to climb onto his back. With my head held high but incredibly relieved, I walked through the undergrowth past the other men, threw my arms around his neck, and he lifted me onto his back.
“I guess I’ll have to carry you, then,” he said as he started moving. Offended, I remained silent for a few minutes, but eventually, the good feeling of being able to rest prevailed. I buried my nose in his hair, which still had the wild, adventurous smell of salt water. It felt so good to feel him, his strength with which he held me tight and carried me effortlessly through the night. My mind was full of contradictory longings and wishes, full of questions, but they disappeared with each of Nathan’s steps as if the air was sucking them up and storing them for meuntil tomorrow. I could only guess at the landscape because it was too dark, but come tomorrow, we would be in a completely foreign world. Everything would be distorted, perhaps even between Nathan and me. I heard the owl hooting again, and in the distance, there was rustling as if something was scurrying through the undergrowth. Possibly a coral snake.
“Nathan,” I asked after a while close to his ear.
“What?” His steps smacked energetically against the swampy ground. Thank God I didn’t have to walk!
“Are you going to carry me for a year now?”
“What? Why a year?”
“Well, we’ll have to stay here for months or a year, you said. Without shoes, I can’t go anywhere without you.”
He laughed loudly, so loud that the others behind us probably heard it too. “Don’t get too excited, princess. I’ll get you some.”
His laughter sounded beautiful and sent a tickling sensation through my stomach that electrified me all the way to my socked toes. Abruptly, he stopped. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
